WESTCHESTER PREDATORY RAPIST SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON

Feb. 26, 2014 -- Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore announced today that Silvio Raul Illescas (DOB 01/03/73) of 79 North Goodwin Avenue, Elmsford, New York was sentenced to twenty years to life in prison on his January 2014 guilty plea to:

two counts of Predatory Sexual Assault, class “A-2” Felonies,

one count of Rape in the First Degree, a class “B” Felony,

one count of Assault in the Second Degree, a class “D” Felony,

relating to four violent sexual assaults in the Town of Greenburgh, the Village of Tarrytown and City of Yonkers.

On Aug. 9, 2011, at approximately 9:00 p.m., in the first of the four sexual assaults, the defendant, asking for directions, approached a woman in the vicinity of Payne Street and Massaro Park in the Town of Greenburgh as she was walking home after getting off of work. He then grabbed the victim’s purse off of her shoulder and ordered her to get into his car or he would kill her. He then drove to a secluded area near a Home Depot store at Austin Avenue and Sprain Road in Yonkers where he choked and sexually assaulted her.

Approximately a year and a half later, on Feb. 13, 2013, the second sexual assault occurred when the defendant responded to an escort advertisement that this second victim posted on "backpage.com," an Internet bulletin board site.

At approximately 10:00 p.m., the same day, the defendant met the victim in a hotel room that she had rented at the Westchester Marriott hotel in the Town of Greenburgh. Once inside the room, the defendant advised the victim that he wanted to have sex without wearing a condom. When the victim told the defendant that she would not have sex with him without a condom, the defendant attacked her, punching her in the head and then pressing a knife to her neck telling her that he would kill her if she did not comply with what he wanted. A struggle ensued and the defendant choked her leaving serious bruise marks to the side of her neck and bruises on her head where he’d struck her.

The defendant then threatened the victim with a handgun and sexually assaulted her. Before leaving, the defendant forcibly stole three cell phones that belonged to the victim and warned her that she should not report anything to the police.

Ten days later, on Feb. 23, 2013, the defendant used one of the stolen cell phones and called another woman who had posted a similar advertisement for escort services on "backpage.com."

Shortly after midnight on that day, the defendant met the victim in her hotel room where she was staying at the DoubleTree hotel in the Village of Tarrytown.

While inside the hotel room the defendant pulled out a kitchen knife and approached this victim. With the knife inches from her face, the defendant told her that he wanted to have sex without a condom. When the victim said no, the defendant proceeded to jab the knife about the victim’s body, including her face, neck, and chest.

The defendant then attempted to sexually assault the victim. While the assault was going on, the victim managed to get off the bed and run towards the hotel room door. As she tried to open the door, the defendant came up behind her and stabbed her in the neck causing a serious laceration. Leaving the knife behind, the defendant fled.

Approximately eight days later, on March 3, 2013, the defendant used another phone stolen from the Feb. 13 case to call a third woman who had also posted an advertisement for escort services on "backpage.com."

The defendant arranged to meet her at the La Quinta Hotel, located in the Town of Greenburgh. The defendant arrived at approximately midnight on March 3, 2013.

Once inside this victim’s room they agreed to engage in consensual sex, but when the defendant insisted that they have sex without a condom, the victim refused and advised the defendant that she did not want to have sex with him any longer. The defendant then pulled a knife, threatened the victim and sexually assaulted her again leaving the knife at the scene.

Greenburgh police were contacted immediately after each incident and initiated an investigation. Detectives from the Greenburgh Police Department and the Tarrytown Police Department, the Westchester County Police Department working closely with the Sex Crimes Bureau of the DA’s office and forensic work by the Westchester County Lab in Valhalla were instrumental developing a suspect and ultimately in charging the defendant.

After the defendant was arrested by Greenburgh police on March 4, 2013, prosecutors from the Sex Crimes Bureau and detectives in communication with the DNA section of the Westchester County lab learned that the escort cases were linked to the previously unsolved open case from 2011 using CODIS, the national DNA databank.

“Aggressive and coordinated detective work by both the Greenburgh and Tarrytown police departments along with expeditious forensic analysis by the Westchester County Department of Labs and Research confirmed the identity of the defendant, thereby preventing more women from becoming victims and ensuring a prosecution that resulted in the defendant’s sentence,” said District Attorney Janet DiFiore.

Assistant District Attorney Fredric I Green, Chief of the Sex Crimes Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Joyce Miller of the Sex Crimes Bureau prosecuted the case.